Who Qualifies: New-Customer Rules, Lookbacks and State Limits

Applying takes time, and a denied or voided bonus costs all of it. Eligibility is also the one part of an offer that you can test against your own records before you start. The ChexSystems article explains the screening report. This chapter is not about whether a bank will open an account for you. It is about whether this offer, with its own clause, will count you.

Which part of your history matters here?

• You have never had an account at the bank. You still need to read the clause. An offer can add tests that a brand-new customer fails, such as a state or branch limit.
• You had an account at the bank once. The lookback decides it. Dig out your open and close dates.
• You are in a household where someone already earned the bonus. Per-person, per-household and per-account limits differ. Check which one the clause uses.
• You were declined or flagged at an earlier application. That is a screening matter. Read the screening section below and the ChexSystems article.

What does a new-customer clause actually turn on?

Offers define a new customer in different ways, and nothing makes them match. A federal rule (Regulation DD) makes banks disclose the bonus amount, when it is paid and any balance or time conditions. It does not say who must be eligible. The chapter on what a bonus really pays covers that rule. Eligibility is whatever the offer says, and the clause is where you find it.

The tests you will meet fall into a few shapes. The wording below is generic and illustrative, not any bank's actual text:

Two details inside those clauses decide more outcomes than the headline test. The first is how the bank counts time. It might use a calendar date, a number of months from enrollment, or a number of months from payout. The second is the product family. A clause may cover one named product or several. A product that was renamed, merged or sold can still appear in your history under an old name.

Check both against your own records. Do not assume a past account at a related brand does or does not count. The clause says.

What do lookbacks and per-person limits mean in practice?

A lookback asks how recently you held a listed account. Two shapes appear. A fixed cutoff names a date and excludes anyone who held a listed account on or after it. A rolling window counts a number of months or years back from now, from your last enrollment or from your last payout.

The two behave differently over time. Under a fixed cutoff, an account closed before the date never matters again. Under a rolling window, you become eligible once enough time has passed.

Here is the fixed shape with Bank A, a hypothetical bank. Its offer excludes anyone who had an open account of a listed product on or after January 1, 2024. Reader X closed her account on November 15, 2023, before the cutoff. Nothing she held falls on or after that date. Reader Y closed his on March 10, 2024. That account was open on January 1, 2024, so Y fails the test even though he closed it long ago.

The tempting mistake is to ask "when did I close it". The clause asks "was it open on or after the date".

Per-person limits run on a similar pattern. A clause can allow one bonus per person, per household, per account, or per product in a period. In a joint account, the clause may count the primary holder only, or both holders. Read the wording rather than infer it. If someone in your household earned a bonus, find the unit the clause uses before anyone applies.

What does a real clause look like?

Real-offer check, as of October 5, 2026: a lookback across three product names

This block shows one real offer's own published eligibility clause, read on the date above. The bank is Capital One, the product is its 360 Checking account, and the source is Capital One's 360 Checking $250 offer page.

What the page states, as of that date:

• Bonus: $250.
• Requirement: at least 2 qualifying direct deposits of $500 or more each, within 75 days of account opening. The page says the bonus can take up to 60 further days to pay, so payout can take up to 135 days from opening.
• Eligibility: ineligible if you have or had an open 360 Checking, Simply Checking or Total Control Checking account, as a primary or secondary holder, on or after January 1, 2024.
• Standing at payout: the account must be open and in good standing when the bonus is deposited. The bank's terms define good standing.
• Offer end date: none is stated. The bank reserves the right to end or change the terms before you accept the offer, with or without notice.

This is a dated snapshot of one offer, taken from the bank's own page. It is not a recommendation or a ranking. Offers change, so check the bank's page before you act.

Next re-check due November 4, 2026.

Three points follow, and each applies to this offer only.

1. The lookback is a fixed cutoff, and it spans a product family of three names. A person who held a differently named account in the family is excluded.
2. The clause says "primary or secondary" holder. If you were on a joint account, read what that means for you, because the page does not spell it out further here.
3. The test asks whether the account was open on or after the date. That is the Reader Y case above.

The arithmetic is short. Two deposits of $500 each is a minimum of $1,000 moved through the account. That is money passing through, not money held, so it is not a base for a return (see the chapter on what a bonus really pays).

Now the dates. Suppose a hypothetical account opens on November 2, 2026. Seventy-five days later is January 16, 2027, the last day for the two deposits on a straight calendar count. The bonus can then take up to 60 more days, which runs to March 17, 2027 at most. Whether the bank counts the open date as day zero or day one is in its wording, so do not reuse this calendar for your own account.

What about state and branch limits?

Some offers are limited by where you live or where the account is opened, and some are not. No rule about this is general. If the clause names a state, branch or region, confirm your address qualifies. If the clause is silent but the page shows different offers by location, treat the offer shown to you as the one that applies and read its terms. Where you cannot tell, ask the bank before spending time on the application and keep the answer.

Does screening affect whether you qualify?

Meeting an offer's terms and being approved for an account are two separate gates. Banks may screen applicants through a specialty consumer reporting company that tracks banking history. The CFPB says that if you are declined for a new checking or deposit account, the bank must give you an adverse action notice. That is a written notice naming the screening company, with its contact details. You can then ask that company for a free copy of your report (CFPB consumer reporting companies list, retrieved October 5, 2026).

For what the report holds, what lands on it and how to dispute an error, read ChexSystems Explained: What It Is and How to Check Yours.

The practical point is order. Confirm that you meet the offer's own clause before you apply, so a screening step is not spent on an offer you cannot receive.

Your eligibility checklist

Print this and fill it in against the offer's terms, with your own dates.

If you cannot answer a row from the offer's own terms, ask the bank in writing and keep the reply, or skip the offer. An offer you may not qualify for is not worth an application.

Limits of this guide. No general rule about new-customer tests, lookbacks or state limits can be stated, because each offer sets its own. The consumer-reporting section rests on one CFPB page. Tax forms that can follow a bonus are in the chapter on taxes.